25 JUNE 1927, Page 3

On Tuesday Mr. R. 1). Blumenfeld, Chairman and Editor of

the Daily Erpress, was entertained at luncheon in celebration of his forty years in Fleet Street. Mr Churchill took the chair. Mr. Blumenfeld is a hot. antagonist, but he is universally respected because he is transparently honest. If proof of the easy access of this paradox into our public life had been needed, it would have been provided by Mr. Churchill's presence at the luncheon, for perhaps no one has been more denounced and derided in Mr. Blumenfeld's headlines than Mr. Churchill. But the remarkable variety of guests at the luncheon was not to be explained merely by Mr. Blumenfeld's honesty. His most telling charac- teristic is a real graciousness of heart. He helps others quietly but effectually because it is in his nature to do so. His forty years in Fleet Street have laid a light hand upon him, and we hope that this is an earnest that he will be there for many years more, both making and keeping friends in the midst of the strife.